


Ruining the Canyon Song

by tickandtemp



Category: The Underland Chronicles - Suzanne Collins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-08
Updated: 2015-05-08
Packaged: 2018-03-29 15:58:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3902182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tickandtemp/pseuds/tickandtemp
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A little story about the friendship between Ares and Princess Nike, and about the beginning of Ares and Henry's. Previously submitted to tuc-ficprompts on Tumblr, before I had a Tumblr or AO3 account.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ruining the Canyon Song

“Shhh, Ares! They’re making the canyon sing. Don’t ruin it.“ 

Princess Nike hushed Ares, careful to face the direction opposite of the other fliers, so that her little voice would echo off of the small wall in front of her, rather than disrupt the echo songs that the older bats were creating. Behind Princess Nike and Ares, several bats were hanging off different parts of the cavern, letting out songlike purrs in different directions. Their voices would hit canyon in front of them, some songs hitting the walls before others, and their voices would echo back, sending images of the canyon back to the fliers. Today, the adults coordinated themselves around the canyon and let out softer, sweeter purring songs, and their celebratory voices first hit the closest part of the canyon to them. Then, their ears registered the echoes and where they bounced, and then they heard another echo, coming from a more distant part of the canyon. Their sweet songs seemed to dance over the canyon crevices and cliffs, and the soft echoes seemed to make the image of the canyon smoothly roll back to them. Though echo songs were common among the fliers, today’s echo song was particularly important. It meant that the human royal family would be visiting the flier’s land.

“Ruin it?” Ares asked, his voice a little too loud. “Just how would I do that?”

“Oh, I don’t know, but you always manage to think of something,” Princess Nike replied. “Ugh, you stink.”

“I know. I rolled around in a gnawer’s nest,” Ares said.

“On the day that the humans would be visiting?” Princess Nike gasped, almost disrupting the echo songs.

“Uh huh,” Ares grinned.

“You’re going to disgust the humans,” she sighed.

“Wanna bet?” Ares challenged. “If I do disgust the humans and they never want to see me again, then what do I do?”

“You’ll be my personal servant,” Princess Nike giggled. “You’ll play any game I choose, and you’ll clean my sleeping spot, and you’ll have to fetch my food for me.”

“And if I win?”

“What do you mean,  _if you win_?”

“Because of course I’ll win,” Ares replied. “I bet I can even get one of the humans to like me. I’ll be invited to train with them, I’ll go on adventures with them, I’ll get little privileges here and there, and they’re going to  _love_ me for my rule-breaking. And my strength.”

“You’re that confident?” Nike asked.

“I am,” Ares said. “If you win, I’m your servant. And if  _I_  win…”

“Then what?” Princess Nike asked. She was scared of what he would come up with.

“You’ll have to groom my fur!” Ares said proudly, sticking out his wings to show off his impressive size. “ _All_  of my fur!”

Princess Nike grimaced at him. For his age, he was quite large, and she took a good look at what was coming to her if she lost the bet. She’d have to clean his eyes, ears, nose, neck, wings, torso, legs, feet, and…

Princess Nike almost puked.

“Careful, you don’t want to interrupt them from making the canyon sing,” Ares teased when he saw her expression. “Speaking of which…”

Ares turned around to face the canyon wall. Lovely images were sent back to him as soon as the echoes reached his large ears, and he grinned mischievously. He positioned his feet on the edge of where he sat, in case he needed to take off quickly, and he opened his mouth to let out nasty sounds.

“The canyon is  _SINGIIIIING!_ ” he belted, making every last word sound terribly awful. “The canyon is  _grooooowwwwwliiiiiing!_  The canyon is ROAAAARING!”

“Ares, stop!” Princess Nike desperately cried.

“The canyon is  _puking_  BLERGHERGHEERRRRGH!”

Ares’ ugly sounds disrupted the adult fliers’ canyon song by scraping over the cliffs and crevices of the canyon at all the wrong times. Once his voice cut through the song and hit the canyon walls, his echoes sent back jagged, sonically displeasing images, and the adult fliers peered back at him, angry at what he had done.

“Ares, why did you do that?” Princess Nike shook her head and flew off, thoroughly embarrassed. 

“Look at their faces!” Ares shouted, sending cacophony into the canyon.

The adults grimaced at what his voice echoed back, and Ares laughed maniacally as he flew after Princess Nike. She muttered to herself bitterly as she flew away from him, but with Ares’ strength and wingspan, there was no way he wouldn’t catch up with her.

“Oh, come on, Nike,” Ares moaned.

“ _Princess_  Nike!” she corrected him angrily. “And this why my mother says I shouldn’t be around you. You always cause trouble.”

“Oh, she just takes things too seriously,” Ares chuckled. 

“No!” Princess Nike protested. “You don’t take things seriously enough! And don’t bother meeting the human royal family. You’ll just embarrass me more!”

Ares stopped mid-air and let Princess Nike go on. Though he was fond of doing whatever he liked, regardless of what others thought, her words could still made him second-guess his own decisions. They had been friends since their births several months ago, and she had appreciated his playful, rebellious demeanor. However, there were times when he pushed things a little too far, and Princess Nike was the one to smack him back into reality. This was one of those times, and Ares decided to let Princess Nike fume on her own. Though he felt guilty, he was a little too proud to say sorry.

He perched himself up on a part of the ceiling that oversaw the play area for flier children. He saw Princess Nike flying around gracefully and making figure-eights. Perched up above her, Ares spotted her friends, Aurora and Ismene, and he sighed when he saw Princess Nike smiling at their compliments.

“Figures,” he said to himself. “They don’t embarrass her.”

Princess Nike must have seen him sulking, for she asked her friends to excuse her, and she flew over to him. He saw her coming, yet he pretended he didn’t, and he kept his back to her until she arrived at his spot and spoke up.

“Ares?” she asked.

“What?” Ares replied. “Aren’t Ismene and Aurora helping you get ready for your meeting with the royal humans?”

“No, my fur’s just fine,” Princess Nike said. “You, though… you don’t seem ready.”

“Of course, not,” Ares huffed. “You don’t want me embarrassing you.”

“But you have a bet to win.”

Ares grinned a little, and though he didn’t let Princess Nike see it, she knew anyway. She nudged him softly, indicating that she had forgiven him, and she shook her wing to remove whatever she picked up.

“You really did roll around in a gnawer’s nest,” Princess Nike said, crinkling her nose.

“And guess who cleans it once I win?” Ares asked playfully.

“ _If_  you win,” Princess Nike corrected, and they flew off to see the meeting between Queen Athena and the human royal family.

Once they picked a good place to watch, they sized up the humans. There were two adults, one male and one female. Behind them, a young human female stood, curiously peering at the fliers. Two humans, a male and female, seemed to be older than the young one, yet younger than the two adults. The female appeared rather weak.

“See that male and female there?” Ares asked. “I would guess they are about our age.”

“No, no,” Princess Nike shook her head. “I heard humans age really slowly. Aurora told me that it takes humans close to twenty years to reach adulthood!”

“No way!” Ares said. “I know humans are weird, but they can’t be  _that_ weird!”

“It’s true!” Princess Nike said. “The smallest one there? She has to be almost ten years, and she hasn’t started the changing!”

“What about those ones?” Ares asked.

“The male and female?” Princess Nike asked. “I say more than ten years, less than fifteen. They’re going to start their changing soon.”

“Humans look so weird,” Ares chuckled. “A bunch of hair on the top of their heads, but nowhere else. They cover their bodies with spinner silk, and their veins are all over their skin.”

“If you think those are strange,” Princess Nike replied. “Then you haven’t seen an Overlander.”

“Neither have you!”

“No, but I heard about them. You know the really old bat, Euripedes? He says he’s bonded to a man whose seen five of them. They’re in the sun so much that their skin is dark. You can’t even see the veins. Their head fur can be as dark as yours. Oh, and their eyes! They aren’t purple like the Underlanders. They can be green, blue, and most commonly  _brown_. And they smell.  _Bad!“_

"Overlanders, huh?” Ares said. “Well, one day I’ll be sitting around a gateway, and I’ll find one.”

“Most of them end up dead, Ares.”

“Then I’ll rescue one as it falls. It’ll scream in its human language, and I’ll hear it,” Ares said proudly. “And before it hits the ground, I’ll leap from my resting spot, and I’ll swoop down and catch it! It will realize that I am its savior and it will ask my name, and I will say, ‘Hello, Overlander,  _I_ am Ares.’”

“Uh huh,” Princess Nike sighed.

“And it will be so grateful. It will say, ‘Thank you so much, Ares the Flier. How will I repay my debt? A life for a life?’ I’ll deliver it to the Underland humans, for a payment, and I’ll be known as the Flier Who Saved The Overlander.”

“Sure, that’ll happen,” Princess Nike laughed.

“I can bribe the humans well for an Overlander. I’d demand baskets and baskets and baskets of grain, or even fish with spices, or prepared shrimp, or maybe a nice little place at their palace, or…”

“You’re getting ahead of yourself,” Princess Nike said. “And it seems like you forgot about the bet.”

Ares redirected his gaze at the royal family, standing on a pillar in front of Queen Athena. He tried to size up each member from a distance and determine which human he would present himself to. If he was lucky, he might even find his future bond among them. He looked at the adults and realized immediately that he would be unsuccessful. He looked at the youngest human, who was apparently ten years old, and by the way she carried herself, he ruled her out. He gazed at the slighter older female, who seemed a little weak for her size, and decided against it. Ares gazed at the youngest male, who appeared as mischievous as himself, and he chose that human male as his target.

Ares watched as the human male swaggered to the edge of the pillar. Then, he swooped down in front of the human, crashed landed on the edge of the pillar, and spread his wings to show off his size. The royal human stumbled backward, and when he saw the large bat, he flashed a cocky grin.

“Ares!” Queen Athena gasped, berating him in human tongue. “What sort of behavior do you intend to display to the royal family?”

“Fearless and wild behavior!” shouted the young human male. “One strong bat, you are!”

“Indeed!” Ares replied, happy that his plan was going so well. “Do you not fear me?”

“Fear you?” the male laughed, puffing his own chest out to appear larger. “How good of a fighter are you? I bet you can’t even win a wrestling match!”

“Can’t I?” Ares yelled back, lowering his head to look at the male in the eye.

“Ares, you must stop this behavior!” Queen Athena bellowed.

“Henry, why must you provoke the flier?” asked the man with the crown.

“This is a royal meeting, Cousin!” shouted the youngest one.

“Brother, stop challenging the flier!” said the other young female.

“Ares!” cried Princess Nike, who swooped him from behind him. “Behave yourself!”

Both Ares and Henry ignored everyone else. 

“You do not think I can win a wrestling match?” Ares sneered, his head still low to meet Henry’s gaze. “How do you plan to mount me, anyway?”

“Like this!” Henry laughed.

Henry reached for Ares’ ears, yanking on this as he used Ares’ nose for a foothold. Ares was so surprised by Henry’s action that he had hardly any time to react. Henry slid down from Ares’ head to his back, and he kicked Ares hard in the gut.

“Fly off, you!” Henry laughed.

“Then fly I shall!” Ares shouted and dove downward, keeping his wings closed to create the sensation of free-falling.

To surprise Henry, Ares stuck out his wings suddenly, causing them to jerk. Henry gripped tightly onto Ares’ fur just as Ares tilted himself backward to let Henry fall. Several other bats were watching them now; if Ares let Henry fall too far, another bat was poised to pick up the royal boy. Luckily, Henry managed to hold on just fine. Well, sort of.

Ares flew in somersaults, hoping to confuse the boy, or perhaps induce puking. Henry gripped tightly to Ares’ ears, and Ares flew upside down while shaking his head rapidly. For a moment, Henry lost his grip, and he spent a moment free falling before Ares flew under him. Ares bounced Henry off one wing, then off the other, and Henry managed to situate himself on Ares’ back. This time, Henry got a better form and grip. Ares decided to fly away from the royal meeting, just to see how secure the royal boy felt when away from his family.

“Where do you plan on taking me?” Henry demanded to know.

“Wherever,” Ares shrugged.

“Not one to do as your told, are you?” Henry taunted. “Is that why you crashed before me?”

“Perhaps, what do you care?”

“I don’t.”

“Then I don’t either.”

“Of course you do, flier,” Henry laughed, tugging on one of Ares’ ears. “Otherwise you wouldn’t have deigned to arrive at such a meeting. What’s your intent?”

“I plan to win a bet,” said Ares plainly.

“As do I.”

“With whom?”

“Little Princess Luxa,” Henry proclaimed. “And with whom do you plan to win a bet?”

“Little Princess Nike,” Ares replied, mimicking Henry’s tone.

“What bet do you have with your princess?” Henry asked.

“That I’d win the favor of a human. She says I would disgust you with my dirty fur.”

“Indeed,” Henry laughed haughtily. “You are in need of grooming.”

“And if I win, Princess Nike would attend to that. What bet do you have running with  _your_  princess?” Ares asked.

“That I’d tame the wildest bat!”

Amazed and slightly offended by Henry’s words, Ares dove down, spinning as he did so, and Henry struggled to hold on. Just when Henry thought he got a good grip, Ares would surprise him by flipping upside down, then doing forward somersaults, then flying upward and upright, and then suddenly stopping to make Henry jerk. The young prince was suddenly in free-fall, and Ares dove under him. Then, when Henry landed on one of Ares’ wings, he used his wings to toss the human around, never allowing Henry to get on his back.

“I – ow – have a – oomph – proposition!” Henry coughed out as he bounced around on Ares’ wings.

Suddenly interested, Ares let Henry land on his back. Henry landed awkwardly, with his legs open, and Ares was sure that Henry crushed a certain  _something_  when he fell into position.

“Ugh,” Henry groaned. “I say we help each other win our respective bets. Let me ride you in peace, fly back to the meeting, and show me proper respect.”

“And you’ll help me win my bet?” Ares asked.

“Yes, yes, now go, you!”

Henry kicked Ares in the side, and Ares soared back to the meeting spot. There, he saw Princess Nike beside her mother, and the humans huddled together. The two youngest females spotted him arriving at the pillar, and the ten-year-old pointed at them, squealing excitedly.

“Look, they return!” said the ten-year-old.

The human adults turned around. The adults looked at him sternly while the younger humans simply gazed in recognition. Ares could sense Henry relaxing on his back, and he landed on the pillar to let Henry off. Henry gave Ares a friendly pat on the back as he slid off, sauntering haughtily as he approached the rest of his family.

“Look, he stays even after I dismount!” declared Henry.

“You mean, you actually tamed the wildest bat?” asked the ten-year-old, crossing her arms.

“Yes, Luxa, I have. I believe I have won.”

“What happens when I am tamed?” Ares asked, reminding Henry to hold up his end of the deal.

“Yes, Henry, what do you plan to do with this flier?” asked the oldest female.

Everyone looked at Henry curiously, wondering what he was going to do. Even Ares wasn’t sure what’s going on. Henry looked at the adults, then at Ares, then at Queen Athena, and he put his hands on his hips proudly when he announced his decision.

“I want this flier to come to Regalia tomorrow for training,” Henry said with a loud voice. “More specifically, I want him to train with me. He is to be my flier.”

Ares flashed a look at Princess Nike, who was sneering at him. Queen Athena gazed at Henry in surprise. Why would a royal human like Henry want such an unruly flier like Ares? Even Ares was surprised by his success, but he didn’t dare show his shock to Princess Nike. 

“Are you sure of your request?” Queen Athena cautioned the boy, making Ares feel personally insulted.

“Of course I am!” Henry proclaimed.

“All right, then,” replied the man. “But given his state, he must be properly groomed before he arrives in Regalia.”

“Oh, Uncle,” Henry laughed. “I think he has his arrangements taken care of.”

“Yes, yes, I do,” Ares replied. “Am I dismissed?”

“Yes, you are,” Henry responded. “You go get groomed, then you will receive instructions as to where to meet me tomorrow.”

Before anyone could say anything else, Ares flew off, winking at Princess Nike. He went to a little spot that he and Princess Nike frequented often, and there he waited for her. He knew that Princess Nike would have to stay at the meeting a little longer, and her mother would probably reprimand her. In any case, Ares didn’t mind waiting, so long as he knew that he would get what he wanted.

Finally, Princess Nike arrived.

“I can’t believe it,” she gasped. “You managed to impress a royal. He wants you to train with him!”

“And I believe I’ve won something,” Ares taunted.

“Oh no!” Princess Nike sighed, shaking her head.

“Oh yes!” Ares grinned, and he spread his wings to show off his size. “I believe you should get started.”


End file.
